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Scaly Skin in Cats

Exfoliative Dermatoses in Cats

Exfoliative dermatoses refers to a group of skin disorders that can be traced to one or more underlying disorders, which may vary in severity and treatment methods, but that share the common symptom of scaling skin. Therefore, exfoliative dermatoses is not the primary diagnosis, but the main descriptor. It is typically due to excessive or abnormal shedding, excessive accumulation of skin cells, or a loss of the cells' ability to adhere to each other.

If your cat is pregnant, you will need to make your veterinarian aware immediately, as some medications for the skin can have an impact on the developing fetus.

Symptoms and Types

Scales may be seen as fine particles, such as dandruff, or in sheets (coarse scale)

Greasy or dry accumulation of surface skin cells, as seen in dandruff

Excessive scaling due to shedding of skin cells

Itchiness

Accumulations may be found throughout the hair coat or in certain localized areas

Filling of hair follicles with oil and skin cells

Accumulation of debris around the hair shaft

Excess scales and crust on the nasal planum and footpad margins (may lead to cracking of skin and bacterial invasion)

Diseases of immune system, where the body’s immune system attacks its own skin (pemphigus)

Diabetes melitus

Tumors of the skin

Diagnosis

You will need to give a detailed history of your cat's health, and the onset and nature of the symptoms. In order to find the underlying cause for the skin disorder, your veterinarian will perform several tests. Because there are so many possible causes for this condition, your veterinarian will most likely use differential diagnosis. This process is guided by deeper inspection of the apparent outward symptoms, ruling out each of the more common causes until the correct disorder is settled upon and can be treated appropriately.

Standard tests will include a complete blood count, biochemistry profile, and urinalysis, which are often within normal range unless there is a concurrent disease that is associated with the blood, such as hyperthyroidism, bacterial infection, fungal infection, or cancer.

To evaluate the skin, the following procedures may be required:

Skin scrapings, which will be sent to lab for fungal, bacterial cultures